


put this day back on replay and keep reliving it

by nasaofficial



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, I love it so much, M/M, and. Pizza, idk how to tag things man, lots of hand-holding, this is cute & that says a lot considering i wrote it, this is just cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 03:32:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12312936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nasaofficial/pseuds/nasaofficial
Summary: a day off in the middle of an unknown, unexplored town.





	put this day back on replay and keep reliving it

**Author's Note:**

> title is from truly, madly, deeply by 1d!! thank u for reading, have a wonderful day!!

"Harry, come on!" Louis says, tugging on Harry's hand grasped in his own, the breeze making his cheeks red, his smile seem even brighter. "Come on, come on, come on! We have an entire town to explore, H, and we only have one night!"

"I'm coming, Lou, be patient!" Harry responds, his hair pulled up in a bun, and sunglasses covering his eyes. Louis still knows that they're beautiful as ever. "Aren't you a little bit nervous? With so many people around and we're just...out?"

Louis stops then, pulling Harry to him, and reaches over to grab Harry's other hand. "'Course I'm nervous, love," he stands on his toes to peck Harry's cheek. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to take an advantage of having an entire night to ourselves." The grin is back on his face, and it's the only thing Harry can focus on. A grin overtakes his own features and he leans down a bit to kiss Louis, but it ends up being mostly teeth clashing.

"We have an entire night, darling, we have to make the most of it! Who knows when this will happen again?"

Harry says, "We could always just come back here every once in a while. Maybe everyone will just think we're locals."

Louis gives him an incredulous look, "H, babe, we're British. We have accents."

The pure bluntness of the statement makes Harry giggle slightly because oh yeah, how could he have forgotten that?

"Come on! An adventure awaits!" Louis suddenly exclaims, letting go of one of Harry's hands but keeping a tight grip on the other, the rope and anchor tattoos lining up. While walking, Harry stares at them for a moment, marvelled at the fact that they permanently inked their love on their skin. Multiple times. What the fuck.

"Lou, where are we even going?" Harry asks, still being dragged along by Louis purposely walking fast. "Do you even know?" The grin on his face feels like it's permanent, and when Louis stops walking once more to face Harry, a challenging look in his eyes, he feels it grow wider.

Louis turns to face Harry completely, the two of them stopped in the middle of a slightly busy sidewalk, hands still intertwined. There aren't very many people walking, but those who are don't even bat an eye at their interaction. Of course, Harry and Louis are too caught up with each other to even bother with anyone else. Louis reaches up to shift Harry's sunglasses from the bridge of his nose to on top of his head. Louis' head is tilted upward just a bit to meet Harry's eyes, his smile matching his boyfriend's.

Yeah, Louis thinks, this is how it should be.

"I mean... H, this is the first time we've been here. Of course I don't know where I'm going. I go where the wind takes me," Louis jokes and his eyes seem to sparkle. Then, suddenly, Louis drops Harry's hand and spins around, breaking into a run.

Harry chases after him, after only a moment of confusion. "Louis! What are you doing?" The giggle he gives off is laced throughout his words, having been completely endeared by his boyfriend. Louis weaves his way through the few people on the sidewalk, his laugh like music to Harry's ears. Harry follows, of course, saying "Excuse me," and "Sorry," to each person he passes.

Louis runs for a while, crossing the streets and turning every once in a while. It takes Harry a while to catch him, but when he does, the two of them are panting slightly, their cheeks red but their smiles still stuck on their faces.

"Hi," Harry says.

"Oops," Louis can't help but giggle.

Harry furrows his brows in fake anger, "No," he drags out, "it's the opposite." He pouts and Louis immediately moves to kiss him. Once he does so, Harry smiles again.

"I love you."

"Yeah? I love you, too," Harry says.

A moment of silence passes before Louis asks, "So, where to, my love?"

Harry blinks, looks around, and sees a store across the road. He points at it. "There."

"You don't even know what that is."

Harry sends a pointed look in Louis' direction. "Guess we'll find out." He checks for the street for any cars and when he sees none, he runs across, his boots hitting the asphalt quite noisily. Louis follows.

When Harry reaches the door to the shop, he only waits a few seconds for Louis to appear right next to him. They reconnect hands, and Harry opens the door. The hot air from inside greets them immediately, warming their red cheeks. The two of them walk into the store and look around, carefully observing the items placed on the shelves.

The theme of the store seems to be pink, each item ranging from baby pink to white to a medium shade of pink. Louis nudges Harry gently with his elbow, whispering, "You could own this store."

The woman at the counter in the corner of the store notices the pair of them and says, "Hi! Good afternoon, how are you guys?"

Harry immediately goes to remove his hand from Louis' as a wave of nerves hits him. Rather than letting go, Louis keeps his hand in Harry's because he knows how to calm him down. "Sorry, force of habit," Harry whispers.

"You're fine, love, yeah? Even if people knew who we are, they said we could act however we want. Nothing to worry about," Louis shoots a brief smile to Harry before responding to the cashier. "We're doing great, love. It's wonderful out, bit chilly though. How are you?"

"That's good to hear. Today's good, woke up early which is always a struggle, but I'm pushing through," the woman, with a nametag that reads "Sara," says, with no hinting at recognizing the two boys.

"I know how that is," Louis laughs a bit, moving to look at the shelved items. There's tiny vintage clocks, which Louis finds adorable, and in one corner, there's a large honeycomb-shaped shelf. Paintings are scattered throughout the building, as well as signs and cute trinkets.

"You guys aren't from here, right? British, if I'm hearing correctly?" Sara asks.

This time, Harry replies, sunglasses still resting atop his head, "Yeah, we're British. From Northern England." 

"Oh, that's so cool! I've always wanted to go to England. You guys on a vacation, then?" she asks, showing obvious interest as to why there are Brits in the Western U.S.

Harry and Louis share a wary glance with each other, Louis eventually responding with, "Yeah, yeah. Holiday trip with a few of the lads."

"Sounds nice. Well, I'll leave you two to look at everything. If you need anything, I'll be right at the counter," Sara smiles. She finally notices their hands clasped together, and Harry inhales, slightly scared of her reaction, so Louis squeezes his hand in comfort. Sara's smile only widens, and the two of them let out a little breath if relief.

They browse the store for around fifteen minutes and when Harry sees a painting of a giraffe, he lets out a laugh. "Louis, Lou, look! It's a giraffe!"

Louis laughs at Harry's excitement, and when he sees the painting, he lets out another laugh. "His legs are so tiny!" When he turns to look at Harry, he sees that Harry is holding another painting, this time of a monkey with small legs as well. Harry's smile is the most noticeable feature about him at the moment, and Louis can't help but feel a surge of love towards his boy.

Louis laughs once again, Harry joining in. They continue to look at the items, stopping every once in a while to show the other something.

Louis can hear Harry's breath catch when he comes across a painting of the night sky, complete with the sun setting, orange and pink tones filling the bottom half of the canvas and a few stars peeking out from their hiding places. "You'll find me in the region of the summer stars," he whispers, eyes raking over the painting.

"You gonna buy it, love?" 

"Yeah...yeah, I am," Harry says.

Louis smiles.

They spend another half hour in the store, and end up picking out two items to buy: the "Summer Stars" painting, as Harry liked to call it--("it just fits, Louis, yeah?"--"Yeah, it does, H.")--and one of those tiny clocks Louis absolutely adores.

They bring the two items up to the counter, smiling when Sara points out that their two items are very cute. When she tells them that their total is fifteen dollars, Harry hands her a twenty and tells her to keep the change with a soft smile.

Sara hands the clock to Louis, who puts it in his pocket, and gives Harry the painting after putting it in a bag. "You two make a very cute couple. You seem very in love with each other, it's quite a sight to see," she tells them with a growing smile on her face.

Harry can feel his face turning red, while Louis squeezes his hand, not having let go of it their entire shopping experience, and says, "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome. Have a wonderful day!" 

"You as well," Harry says.

The two of them exit the shop, Harry holding a bag and Louis with a clock in his pocket, hand in hand and very much proud of their love.

A cool breeze reaches their faces right away, making Louis shiver a bit. Louis feels Harry let of his hand, moving his left arm to put it around Louis' shoulders. Louis lets out a breathy laugh at that.

"Something funny, Lou?"

"No, 's just... We haven't been able to do this since we were younger, yeah? Feels kinda surreal," Louis answers, feeling content under Harry's arm. He moves so his right arm is wrapped around Harry's waist.

"I know, it's crazy. It's nice, though, right? We're nobodies here, we can do whatever we want," Harry says, smiling softly as they walk.

"I wouldn't say we're quite nobodies, Harry. There's probably some fans who live here, but not many. They recommended us this town because nobody talks about us here, the only radio play we get is for What Makes You Beautiful and Story of my Life," Louis says, pinching Harry's side.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Louis."

They walk together in comfortable silence for a few blocks, until Louis interrupts the silence with an "I'm hungry."

Harry huffs out a breath before responding with "Me, too."

"Okay, hold on," Louis says, removing his right arm from Harry's waist and grabbing his phone from his pocket. Harry sees him looking for somewhere to eat. "There's a few different restaurants, like Chinese or some fast food places. There's a place like five minutes away called Messenger Pizza. They don't just have pizza, though, they have sandwiches and stuff."

"Pizza sounds good, yeah?" Harry says, continuing walking forward.

"Yeah, yeah. Um, we're going to need to turn around, then," Louis laughs a bit, and then maneuvers the two of so that they're walking in the right direction. "It's only like three blocks away, so that's nice."

"Very convenient," Harry grins, content with his arm wrapped around his boy. They walk past the town's library and they both point out how huge it is.

"That's like three stories worth of books, what the fuck?" Louis says, staring at the building in awe. "So many windows, so many books--is that a fucking balcony?"

Harry laughs, looks up, and confirms Louis' suspicions. "It is, love, yeah. They probably have computers and stuff, not just books."

Louis huffs, "Still, who needs that many books?"

"We should go in after we eat," Harry smiles, choosing to ignore Louis' huff of anger.

They continue their trek to the pizzeria, pausing only once more to check and make sure they were on the right street when it came time for them to turn. They make a right, and continue walking until Louis' phone tells them that they've arrived.

"This is...an interesting entrance," Harry points out once the two of them notices that the door to the building is concave in comparison to other buildings. There's beams that tilt down at an angle and connect the rest of the building to the others on the street, as if this building was originally too far from the street.

Louis only shrugs in response, removing himself from under Harry's arm and going to open the door. "After you, my good sir."

"Why thank you, kind sir," Harry replies, smiling.

When they enter the building, their hands intertwined again, they're immediately met with the aroma of pizza and it only fuels their hunger. "Didn't realize I was this hungry," Louis mutters as he and Harry wait in line to order.

Harry's reading over the menu when he asks Louis what he's going to get. Louis responds with a shrug and "I don't know, H, I was just thinking of getting a slice of pepperoni pizza." 

"Hm, I might do the same, to be honest. There's so many options," Harry says, and then they step forward and are met with the counter

"Hi! Welcome to Messenger, how can I help you two today?" the cashier asks them, and Louis realizes that this is the second cashier who hasn't recognized then. Either no one actually knows us, he thinks, or they're all really fucking good actors.

"Hi, can we get two slices of pepperoni pizza, please?" Louis orders for the both of them.

"Of course!" she responds, her fabricated enthusiasm slightly obvious, but Louis and Harry smile back regardless. "Is that it?"

"Oh! Uh, could we get two uhm--Lou, what do you want to drink?" Harry whispers the last part to Louis, though the cashier is right in front of them and can definitely hear them. 

"Just a water, H," he whispers back, smiling fondly.

"Two waters, please," Harry beams at the cashier as if the whispering between the two of them hadn't just happened. Louis thinks he sees a genuine smile form on the cashier's face, and he feels even more fondness for his boy.

"Alright, your total is fifteen even," she says, and Louis hand her a ten and five, deciding to stick another five in the tip jar. "You're free to sit anywhere you like, the pizza will brought be to you. You guys look new here."

"We are, thank you," Harry says.

"Uh, I recommend the booth in the far corner after. It's elevated and pink and there's ton of writing everywhere, hard to miss," the cashier grins, "Everyone calls it the 'Romantic Booth.'" 

Harry ducks his head and blushes at that, while Louis mutters a quick "Thank you," and tugs on Harry's hand to lead him to the booth.

Harry sits in the booth first, choosing to sit with his back facing the majority of the other customers. He takes the sunglasses off from his head and sets them in the corner of the table. Rather than sitting across from him, Louis slides in right next to him. Harry doesn't question it, just lets Louis have the constant physical contact after years of having to withhold it.

They notice the writing on the walls, and when the cashier said that is was everywhere, she really meant everywhere.

The booth itself isn't all that comfortable, it's like a bench that's been painted with different colors. Each strip of wood has been painted a different color, creating a striped effect. The top if the bench is bedazzled with rhinestones, which Harry had a right laugh at. The wall directly to their right is like any other wall, except for the drawings everywhere. Right across from them is a brick wall, where people have still managed to draw on. If the two of them were to turn around, they would be met with a window, which makes no sense, but there are drawings along the windowsill. 

The ceiling is pink and Louis has to squint to make out some of the writing. "Pineapple doesn't belong on pizza," he reads aloud. "I, for one, agree."

"Louis," Harry drawls out dramatically, "you do this every time we have pizza! Some people like pineapple on their pizza, others don't. Leave them be."

"Those people," Louis says in mock disgust, "are wrong and need to be educated in how to have taste buds."

Harry reaches out to pinch Louis' arm and Louis lets him, because yeah, he knows he's being absolutely ridiculous.

Then, after waiting only a few minutes, the cashier arrives with their pizza. Another employee follows with their two glasses of water. She gives a weird look at noticing their on the same side of the booth, but doesn't mention anything. She sets the two slices on the table after they're given their waters and Louis exclaims, "Holy shit," when he notices how huge the slices are.

The cashier barks out a loud laugh at that, clapping a hand over her mouth right away. "Sorry," she says sheepishly.

"You're fine, I'm sorry," Louis says, "Thank you, by the way. These pieces are just...really fucking big."

Harry says thank you as well, and then the cashier leaves. "These are huge slices," he says, picking at the two paper plates they used for his one slice.

They both pick up their slices as best as they can, Harry letting Louis take a bite first. "Hot, hot," he repeats, and Harry takes that as a cue to set his down and wait for it to cool.

Louis takes a sip of his water, trying to soothe his aching tongue when he notices a particular doodle on the wall. "Haz, look. It says 'support your local gays!' That's neat, yeah?"

Harry looks to where Louis' pointing and he immediately agrees. "That's wonderful," he says. He and Louis then scour the wall and ceiling looking for other phrases. 

"Oh! There it is again, Lou," Harry says, pointing out another 'support your local gays.' 

They end up making a game out of it, which is nice, considering the town they're in is in a state notorious for being Republican. Seeing support for the LGBT community warms Harry and Louis' hearts when they realize that there are probably younger kids who need that kind of support. 

At one particular piece of writing, Harry can't help put let out a little giggle. "Louis, look," he says" pointing at the brick wall. "That one says 'I love Ian,' yeah? Look to the left--it says 'I love Ian 2.' Okay, then below that it says 'Everyone loves Ian apparently.'"

Louis laughs, both at the actual content and the fact that his boyfriend has an adorable sense of humor.

At this point their pizza has cooled down enough to safely eat, but the two of them continue to look at the writing and drawings on the booth. Harry points out another one to Louis--"Look! It says 'You have a nice butt.' They wrote it for you, Louis!" Louis may or may not give him a death glare at that.

(He does.)

"There's lot of dates on the wall, H. We should write today's date and sign it or something," Louis says, then takes a bite of his pizza. "Then we'll be like, permanently marked on the wall." He speaks through a mouth full of pizza, but the sentence still warms Harry's heart.

"That's a good idea! I don't...have any markers or pens on me, though." 

"That's fine, I don't either. We can just ask one of the employees, yeah? They're bound to have a marker somewhere," Louis responds, shrugging.

Louis and Harry continue eating their pizza, pointing out different doodles to each other, giggling with their mouths full of food. It should be disgusting, but they find it more amusing because they're grossly in love.

Eventually the pair finish their food, and they devise a plan. Harry throws away the plates, and Louis goes up to the counter to ask for a marker. It's not really a devious plan but hey, it doesn't always have to be.

Not even a full minute later, Harry and Louis are back at the booth. They look at each other for a while, silently communicating on how they should go about signing a wall. Louis shrugs, finds a relatively empty space on the wall, and signs it. He hands the marker to Harry when he's finished, and Harry signs right below it. Underneath that, he writes the date, pulling back a bit and smiling, capping the marker.

Harry looks over to Louis, and when seeing a smile on his face, he has another idea. Uncapping the marker, he adds a few hearts around their signatures. When Louis notices what he's doing, he lets out a small laugh and kisses Harry on the cheek. Overwhelmed with love for his boy, Louis shifts a bit so he can properly kiss Harry.

"I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Lou," Harry bites back a grin.

After staring at each other for a bit, which should be slightly creepy but it isn't because, again, they're grossly in love, Louis lets out a startled "Oh!" when he realizes something. "We haven't taken a picture!"

Harry only smiles in response, knowing how important date selfies are to Louis. Louis grabs his phone out of his pocket, and snaps a quick picture of their signatures on the wall, and then switches the camera to the front camera. He hands the phone to Harry so that he's able to kiss Harry on the cheek without affecting the quality of the picture.

Once Louis is satisfied with the pictures, the pair set on out. While walking towards the exit, Harry points out the type of lighting they have: "They're fucking umbrellas, Lou!"

Louis only shakes his head, smiling and tightening his grip on Harry's hand.

The two exit the building, shivering slightly at the cold breeze. Harry reminds Louis of the library, and Louis responds with a groan, but they start the trek towards the "portal to hell," as Louis called it, regardless.

Upon entering the library, the two immediately widen their eyes at the sheer number of books there are. "Three floors worth of books," Harry mutters, voice shaking slightly in awe.

"I'm gonna go to the balcony," Louis says, beelining for the stairs. Harry shrugs, following him.

There aren't many people in the library, because it's close to closing time. Most people are leaving, though Harry and Louis decide they'll only stay for a little bit.

When the pair finally make it onto the balcony, Harry lets out a short laugh at the orange chairs. He grabs Louis' hand, squeezing it once for comfort, then drops it. The balcony of the building gives an overview of the city, which Harry takes a picture of with his phone. The buildings and the near-sunset go together and make an incredible picture, but he still posts it to Instagram with a black and white filter because the colored version is for him and Louis only.

Because they're both the proper height, the two rest their forearms on the edge, taking in the scenery. Even if they both think the other is looking at the overview of the city, they're both actually sneaking glances at each other. Louis reaches his arm over and grabs Harry's hand. When they make eye contact, Louis fondly smiles at Harry, who pulls his boyfriend in for a hug.

The pair stay like that for a while, because why not? After years of having their public actions controlled, this feels like a short interlude of complete freedom and yeah, they're going to take advantage of it. As long as they have moments like this, they know they'll be okay. They're each other's homes.

"I love you," Harry mumbles, voice slightly wavering, feeling all tension leaving his body.

"I love you, too," Louis responds, pressing a quick kiss to Harry's hair, then proceeds to hug his boy tighter.

"Today was good. This was so much fun," Harry continues, voice sounding more and more emotional with every word.

Louis smiles, "Yeah, of course it was. Only spent with you."

Harry smiles, his arms still wrapped around the slightly shorter man, and takes a deep breath. "You're wonderful."

"You're awfully sappy, yeah? You're more wonderful. I love you, H, so much."

Harry doesn't respond, letting his actions speak louder, which consist of burrowing his head further into the crook of Louis' neck.

Yeah, Louis thinks, this is home.


End file.
